Written question asked by Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative) on Wednesday, 25 February 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 2 March 2026. It was answered by Kanishka Narayan (Labour) on Monday, 16 March 2026 on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Photonics
- Question
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress she has made in developing photonic computing.
- Answer
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DSIT are funding an Innovation and Knowledge Centre led by the University of Southampton’s world leading silicon photonics research foundry, Cornerstone. This centre is focused on translating silicon photonics technologies from research to industry, including photonic integrated circuits that are essential for optical computing.
In parallel, the UK’s National Quantum Computing Mission aims to build scalable quantum computers. We have already announced over £1bn of funding for the quantum technologies sector – which includes over £500m specifically around the development of quantum computing of which photonic approaches are an integral part. Details of key milestones and funding programmes under this investment will be published soon.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 116053
- Session
- 2024-26
- Subjects
- Photonics
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-03-16 17:12:33 +0000
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/116053
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/116053
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/116053